MIDDLESBROUGH are on the trail of Czech youngster Borek Dockal, according to sources in Europe.

The Teessiders are understood to have been alerted to midfielder Dockal’s performances in the Czech Republic Under-21 side.

And the 21-year-old has also earned rave reviews for Slovan Liberec in the Czech top flight.

Boro are spreading their net for potential midfield targets as they brace themselves for Premier League interest in Gary O’Neil and Adam Johnson during the January transfer window.

Dockal has a reputation as an attack-minded player with an eye for goal, having been on target three times during the Czech Under-21s’ storming start to their 2011 European Championship qualifying campaign.

The Czechs have won four out of four qualifiers, scoring 14 goals in the process, to steal a march on Germany in their group.

Striker Michael Rabusic has also caught the eye of overseas scouts, with Boro just one of many clubs with representatives watching the highest-rated young side on the Continent.

O’Neil’s sparkling early-season form has resurrected talk of a move to Fulham or Everton, while a queue of clubs are monitoring winger Johnson.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate has made a very public commitment to buying for the future as much as the present, saying: “You have to manage for the long-term, and that is what I am doing.

“I don’t want a load of 30-year-olds. I felt we needed a different kind of team here and that is what we have tried to do.